Welcome to the WoES PTA Website! 

The goal of this site is to provide all parents and caregivers of the children attending Worthington Elementary School, up-to-date information on events and activities associated with the PTA and our school.


SCHOOL NEWS




COMMUNITY NEWS


FITNESS CAMPS: The Okinawan Karate Dojo, business partner of Worthington, will be providing after school transportation (and more) at their new facility on 4900 Waterloo Road in Ellicott City! Fully licensed by Howard County and Maryland State, the Karate Dojo will have your solution! Services include: transportation from school to the dojo, homework assistance, game and sanctum recreational activity (karate, tumbling, etc), Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course, and much more!! Visit them online at www.okdkarate.com. For more information, call 443-574-8999 or okinawankaratedojo@gmail.com.




WORTHINGTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

4570 Roundhill Road    Ellicott City, MD 21043
Phone: (410) 313-2825     Fax: (410) 313-2829

https://www.google.com/maps/place/4570+Roundhill+Rd,+Ellicott+City,+MD+21043/@39.244847,-76.795252,12z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c81fc6e3ce9b11:0x829c12b3cc4d16aa!8m2!3d39.2448833!4d-76.7952623?hl=en-US

BE IN THE KNOW! 
Stay up-to-date on activities and events and stay connected. 

STAY CONNECTED
https://www.facebook.com/WOESPTA/
https://twitter.com/HCPSS
Next Meeting: TBD
Location: TBD

PTA MEETING AGENDA LIST: Some parents have expressed interest in receiving the PTA meeting agenda prior to PTA meetings, allowing them to contemplate if they will attend.  All WoES parents and guardians can attend PTA meetings.  To receive the agenda by email, sign up HERE if you have a google account.  For those without a google account, email John Gallagher at johnandthebeanstalk@yahoo.com with the subject “[WoES PTA meetings] join request”, with your preferred name in the body of the email.

ATTENDANCE: We strive to keep accurate attendance records for all students.  When a student is absent from school, the absence is coded "absent" without a reason. When a note is provided by parents, the absence is then coded with the reason. The following are examples of codes/reasons for absences entered in our system: illness, appointment, parent discretion. We have many students that have unexcused absences. IF your child has been absent and you have not provided a note, this is an unexcused absence.  Please send in a note stating the reason for the absence as soon as possible, and the absence will be properly coded. 

*** PLEASE NOTE *** Rate of chronic absenteeism is being calculated by The Maryland State Department of Education for our “School Report Card” being released last week.  Absenteeism is closely monitored and we will be following the county expectations for monitoring this data.  For any students exceeding 15% absenteeism (excused or unexcused), parents will receive a letter from the school per our county expectations. We encourage families to take vacations during set times off from school as designated from the HCPSS calendar. 

ABSENCE EXCUSES: New Quick and Easy Way for Parents to Send in Absence Excuses to Worthington! While parents can continue to send in a paper excuse note to your child’s teacher when your child returns from an absence, we are launching a new email address to receive and archive absence excuse notes. We are encouraging the use of email over paper notes when possible. Email wesabsence@hcpss.org.

● Include your child(ren)’s full name in the subject line.
● Include a parent’s full name and phone number.
● Include the date your child(ren) was absent and the reason.
● Include doctor’s notes or other documentation as attachments if needed.

If there is a health issue you would like the teacher and health office to know about, you can use this email address as well. DO NOT USE THIS EMAIL to notify us of dismissal changes and early dismissals. It is for full day absences only.


  

Please contact WoES' School Nurse at 410-313-2575.

PTA NEWS
PTA FUNDING: Direct donations to the PTA are currently about 2/3 of the amount that the PTA received last year. Direct donations are the primary source of fundraising for our PTA. The PTA would like to reach the level budgeted for this year ($6,000), which is the same as the amount received in direct donations last year, to complete this phase of fundraising through direct donations. Membership help the PTA, but direct donations help the PTA more. Especially for those who have not donated already, please consider doing so.

ADVOCATE FOR WOES STAFFING: The HoCo operating budget process for fiscal year 2021 is now ongoing, and will end when the Board of Education adopts the budget May 28, 2020.  WoES families have opportunity to offer feedback at interim stages.  An issue that has impacted WoES this budget year is the loss of several paraeducators, leaving grades 2-5 to share paraeducators, increasing the burden on teachers, and leaving our children with less support at the individual level.  Those with compelling narratives of how the loss of paraeducators has impacted education at WoES, or any other issues that you would like to advocate for improvement, are encouraged to do so here. Note boe@hcpss.org goes to ALL Board of Education members.  Sabina Taj is the Board of Education member assigned to our school cluster, and information to reach her is provided here.  For those inclined, there is the option to “Register for January 21 Public Hearing” under Step #2 of the fy21 budget. Advocating for our school’s resources is a simple way to make sure our school is offering our children the best education possible.

PARENT VOLUNTEER PROCEDURES: We value our volunteers and the contributions they make to our students and schools. Parents who are asked to chaperone field trips or wish to volunteer must complete a brief training course online and submit a certificate of completion to the school. Visit HERE to complete the training and receive your certificate. Siblings are not permitted when volunteering during school hours.

PTA VOLUNTEERS LIST: An underutilized resource of previous years has been a list of individuals that are interested in volunteering bite-size amounts of time helping out with PTA events.  We’d like to use such an email list as a way to match people with bite-size tasks, and for those looking to gain experience from more seasoned WoES parents.  For those with a google account, sign up HERE. For those without google accounts, email John Gallagher at johnandthebeanstalk@yahoo.com with the subject “[WoES PTA volunteers] join request”, with your preferred name in the body of the email.

HCPSS NEWS
2019/2020 HCPSS SCHOOL CALENDAR: There will be no printed 2019-2020 calendars. Staff, students, and families may view and/or download printable PDFs of the full calendar and/or important dates only by clicking HERE.

SCHOOL DIRECTORY INFORMATION: Parents/guardians who have completed their Family File can now access their school directory in HCPSS Connect. The directory will display only the information that parents select when completing Family File. The directory will update daily as families complete Family File or change their information. To access the directory for your school, log in to HCPSS Connect and select Family File/School Directory in the left menu, and then School Directory. Information in the directory is for personal use only and may not be distributed, sold or shared in any way. Parents who do not wish to be included in the directory should update their Family File permissions.

NEW REPORT CARDS: HCPSS has a new-style learning behavior report card to be used this school year. Furthermore, HCPSS has aligned the elementary interim progress report for first quarter and students and parents will see the new learning behaviors on progress reports as well as report cards. Please refer to this website while reading the progress report and/or report card:  https://www.hcpss.org/academics/learning-behaviors/


YOU SHOP, AMAZON GIVES!

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LOCAL BUSINESSES
Do you own or work for a local business? The Worthington Elementary School PTA would like to work with you to promote your business while assisting us with the many fun events we host throughout the year. Contact worthingtonptapresident@gmail.com for more details.